This might sound like a sick joke—if not a Kafkaesque nightmare—but E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post is actually complaining that the problem with the MSM's impeachment coverage is that it has been . . . too fair to President Trump.
Appearing on Joy Reid's MSNBC show today [guest-hosted by Jonathan Capehart], Dionne began by approvingly citing Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan's latest, in which she claims that the MSM have not done "nearly enough" in pushing back against Trump surrogates. She demands: "the mainstream media must end its addiction to both-sides journalism." She's always claiming that opposing Trump makes you the "reality-based press."
Dionne echoed that, saying: "there are moments in politics when one party has an interest in the truth, and the other party has an interest in falsehood. President Trump lies! It's not partisan for the media to be partisan toward the truth."
Translation: the MSM should be partisan toward the Democrats, because they're for "the truth."
Shawna Thomas, a former senior producer with Meet the Press, now the DC bureau chief for Vice News, seconded Dionne/Sullivan, saying: "objectivity does not mean both-sidesism." In other words, to be "objective," the MSM should trumpet the Dem take and bury the Republican response.
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
AM Joy
10/6/19
10:57 am EDT
E.J. DIONNE: Our Washington Post colleague, our great media critic Margaret Sullivan, says the mainstream media must end its addiction to both-sides journalism, which gives falsehoods the same opportunities as truth. And I think you're seeing that now. I think we should all be for all-sides journalism—there are more than two sides to a question. When people have legitimate fact-based arguments against each other. But truth cannot be given the same level of coverage as falsehood. We should not make them equivalent. And there are moments in politics when one party has an interest in the truth, and the other party has an interest in falsehood. President Trump lies! It's not partisan for the media to be partisan toward the truth. But it can look like that if one side of the argument, as President Trump has shown, needs to tell lie after lie after lie.
SHAWNA THOMAS: But I think it's worth reiterating. Objectivity does not mean both-sidesism.
DIONNE: That’s what I think that I'm saying. I said. But I am for real debate, but real debate when something is based in truth.
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